The Benefits of Being Bilingual

Language is an important part of our lives. I remember when I arrived to USA I could speak a little English. I went to school to improve my language, reading and writing skills; even now I am learning my second language, without English I cannot survive in this new environment. Now I am raising my own kids and I want them to have this important skill, this privilege of knowing a second language, language of their parents and grandparents. By looking at studies of bilingual children, research shows how important it is for a child to learn a second language. Raising a bilingual child is a benefit because it improves social skills, academic proficiency, introduces child to a different culture, and prepares for the future.

This nation is a place where different cultures come together and learn to coexist. From native America, Latinos, Asians and probably other nations that are not well known; they all have something in common which they all are bilinguals. Authors Cisneros, Agosin, Dumas and Tan clearly illustrate that being bilingual has both advantages and disadvantages.

Being bilingual will not only help you communicate with others but also give you many different opportunities. Being bilingual is just not about speaking another language but also learning the culture that comes with it. From the new language you will learn about other traditions, music, food, and overall the way others speak and express themselves. Another thing you can acquire from being bilingual is the chance of getting a better job and develop professionally better. Studies also show that bilinguals express themselves better and that it’s better to start learning a second language at an early age. There is doubts about teaching a children a second language because some people believe that if they teach them a second language at an early age it can cause confusion in the child, and they will end up not being able to learn either one correctly. This information has not yet been proven what studies have shown is the complete opposite which is that a bilingual person has a higher possibility of being successful than a monolingual.

In the summer of 2017, a young man named Justin went to Mexico for the first time to visit family. Justin, speaking only English, struggled to communicate with those around him where the main language spoken in that country is Spanish. Here, being bilingual would sure be handy. Knowing more than one language, becomes beneficial in class, or when people are trying to communicate with each other, or possibly even to order food. Learning a second language should be mandatory for kids and also adults for the advantages they will earn, for a sense of belonging, and also to find ways of teaching others about another dialect.

Language is used every day in our everyday lives all over the world. Marian and Shook state that “language is used to communicate our thoughts and feelings, connect with others, identify culture, and understand the world around us” (Marian & Shook ,2012,para.1) There are many languages all over the world and some people understand more than one language such as understanding both English and Spanish. People that are Bilingual are exceptional in a way that they are intelligent, helpful, and have advantage openers.

Has it never crossed your mind how handy it would be to speak the language of the country you are being on vacations – let say Russian, Chinese, or (why not?), Kurdish. This is, indeed, a rhetorical question because wherever you are from, you have already had for sure a cross-cultural encounter that may had not worked as well as desired... If you grow up being bilingual, you probably know exactly about which transactional problems while speaking we are talking about, yet being bilingual has much more benefits than disadvantages. For instance, being bilingual or even multilingual is not only helpful for travelling or working but for your mental health. Psysiological studies show people speaking several languages are assessed as better while performing cognitive tasks .

These days there are more and more people who live in a country where other language than their home language is spoken. This could be due to different reasons, like immigration of the whole family or having married a person from another country. When children are involved most parents would like them to be bilingual, but this does not happen automatically. Some effort is required.

As the title suggests, “Speaking in Tongues: The Many Benefits of Bilingualism” is an article that examines the advantages of bilingualism. Due to the nature of the world, a great number of people have acquired the ability to speak more than one language. The author explores the benefits such an ability offers, arguing that bilingual children develop social, linguistic and cognitive skillsets that not only provides a chance to explore different cultures, but raises a child’s awareness of how language functions. The author also weighs on the cognitive aspect; applying the works of Ellen Bialystok to their ( the author’s ) argument. In the author’s view, bilingual children are better at dealing with conflicting cues and assessing information.

A dual language bilingual education strategy is usually employed in public schools. Typically the minority language students and the majority language students are evenly distributed throughout the classrooms. Both languages are used for instruction with evenly distributed 50/50 time. One teacher shall instruct with the home language while other instruction is in English. The two teachers work collaboratively through all the lessons. Since these students are in mainstream education, it is no surprise that most students prefer to use English the majority language. The goals of a dual language program are to develop high levels of proficiency of the first language then subsequently the second language. Consequently, it is desired to

Society has raised false beliefs or misinforms people when it comes to educating a bilingual child. People have a lack of information about language acquisition and how the brain is a powerful organ with the ability to learn multiple languages. Today 's adults have different opinions when is time to make the decision if they should raise their children in a bilingual home or not, and at the end they do not know what to do. The advances in science have given us more information on early childhood and how children are capable of learning in different ways. Also, has proven how a young child can learn two or more languages at the same time. However, a question that has been asked by parents multiple times is what are the benefits of raising a

Growing up as a child in a military family, I had the fortunate experience of living in many places in the United States and abroad. With each new living adventure, we often met new families who were of mixed backgrounds and many of the new friends I made had one parent that was American and another that was of non-American or non-English speaking nationality. As such, these new friends were often bilingual. I often pondered what it would be like to live in a household where more than one language was spoken and found myself intrigued by that prospect. By the time I reached middle school though, the duty stations were all located in the United States and the majority

I found an artcle on hufflingtonpost that talks about the benefits of being bilingual. The article states that people who speak multiply laguages have a higher level of mental flexibility than people who only speak one language. In the past bilnguals were looked down on. When you're swichting languages all the time, it strengthens your mental muscle and your executive function becomes enrached. There was an experiement performed on both spanish and english speakers to see if both lagunages were active in their minds at all time. At first the subjects 512 sentences in either english or spanish, switch between the two every two sentence. They had to read cognates out load in red as quicky as possible. The results show bilnguals rarely said a

Scholars assert that data suggests progressively beneficial effects of bilingualism throughout the lifespan. It has been found that bilingualism could prevent age-associated cognitive deficits1.

From the time they are young children until the time they are seniors, bilinguals own several advantages in various categories over monolinguals. Being brought up in a bilingual environment is quite different than how one would normally be brought up. Young bilinguals are constantly being exposed to two languages at the same time, being able to understand and use both when they feel necessary. From a young age, bilingual children are already able to have good decision-making skills due to these several situations they are in that require them to select which language is best for which situation (Kinzler). Being brought up as a bilingual will also develop a child’s cognitive skills in various vital

On January 23rd, 2018, Medical News Today published an online news article discussing a study that considers potential benefits of bilingualism on children that have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). There has been an expansion on studies that look at the benefits bilingualism poses on executive functions, which include attentional control, inhibiting behavior and working memory. For the specific study, they decided to test whether kids who are bilingual and diagnosed with ASD can shift between different modes at a smoother rate than monolingual kids with ASD. The study used 40 children, 20 of which were typically developing (10 monolingual and 10 bilingual) and 20 who were diagnosed with ASD (10 monolingual and 10 bilingual).